Match report – PBCC vs Silly Sloggers – 22 Jan
Looking to put the Southside woes behind us, the Northside Bears took on Silly Sloggers and it looked like the Southside curse was upon when Spooner lost the toss and we found ourselves in the field.
Despite a couple of concerns that the curse was returning, we managed to keep it at bay as we restricted the Sloggers to 7/197. Highlights were:
- Pat putting us all to shame diving around in the field, saving runs and taking a catch
- Talking about catches, what about Drady’s grab at slip! Classic!
- Another week, another interesting interpretation on wides, although this time, it was more a general lack of consistency with the calls.
- Tidy spells in the middle of the innings from both Love Muscle and Spooner bowling 8 straight and not letting the Silly Sloggers live up to their name
- Ohms facing potential racial vilification issues… for fear of facing the same issues, I will not repeat Ohms’ comment. For those who weren’t there, you will have to wait til the Bearlow for more information
Chasing 198 to win, JJ went out, had a quick swing and was dismissed for 6. After JJ, Armface, Magneto and GT all made worthwhile contributions, supporting Love Muscle at the other end. Other highlights:
- JJ’s umpiring… no further comments will be made…
- Love Muscle producing a reverse sweep during his match winning knock of 84*
- Silly Sloggers and their excessive appealing wasn’t really a highlight per se, but needs to get a run in this report.
- GT being struck by the curse and being dismissed for 20 when we were just shy of victory leaving his season average at 22
- Sha’neo and Drady momentarily leaving the BBQ unattended, the result - a mini grass fire directly underneath the BBQ! It was good to reminisce and remind ourselves of the quality of the snags that GT produced at last year’s Bearlow though!
And just because we know some of you are sick of reading about the curse.... We scored 22 less than 220 (or 9 times 22 depending on which way you look at it) and won with 22 balls to spare.... All of this on the 22nd January...
Despite the late finish (largely thanks to the incredibly slow over rate from the Sloggers), a big thanks to Magneto who was the last Bear there and helped Spooner pack up!!!! A good win that puts the club in a great position with 2 games left in the northside grade.
Match report – PBCC vs Tourists – Sunday 29 Jan
With skipper Gribbs running behind on arrival time VC Spooner called the toss and won it! Thereby ending the run of bad luck on the South side…. Or did it?
PBCC went out to bat with openers Azz and Dave getting a few quick runs to start us off. On a well-timed drive to deep mid-off the curse of 22 struck with odd effect… the Tourists number 22 player twisted his knee fielding Azz’s shot and was forced from the field for ice, unfortunately Azz returned to the pavilion a couple of balls later.
Armface looked in good form at number 3, but his back was not cooperating and he retired hurt very early on. Magneto took up the blade and returned quickly with 14, next was Drady who was keen for a hit, he batted with Dave who got out with a Spoonish style shot to mid-off, then batted with Ads who put on a few runs, followed by Gman who quacked out. Gribbs came on and realised his bat was finally stuffed, after a quick change he did some weird style of batting including trying to play a block shot.
Drady who was keen for a 50 got out on 40 to a decision by umpire Dave that was tight but called as seen and would have required video replay to overturn the result. Spooner came on to join Gribbs for a 32 run partnership, with Spooner grabbing the lions share of runs and Gribbs hitting singles??? (most airborne catch chances lol!). Gribbs finally popped one straight up in the air and walked on 14.
Spooner went on with JJ who joined his bro in duck city with umpire Dave raising his finger again. Although this time, Spooner nearly raised his finger as well from the non-striker’s end given the plumbness. Ohms played some nice shots to help lift the teams tally to 148, with Ohms stumped, Spooner got some choice red ink with his 32 and his new top score for the bears!
In the field it was hot hot hot, 38 degrees of it! We opened with Drady and Magneto and in the 7th over we grabbed our first scalp. Unfortunately that was to be the extent of it… Again one batter just eluded our bowlers and raced on to big runs. Everyone had a bowl except G, J and Gribbs and did their best but by drinks they only needed 30 runs, despite some very thrifty bowling from Dave our most economical on the day. Spooner and Ohms carried out the remaining overs after drinks both bowling well but there was just not enough runs to get.
Everyone put in a good effort in the field, and we dropped a few chances but really only one or two that you would worry about, the rest were pretty tough. There was good spirit in the game and despite the loss it was a good match.
A big thanks to Dave and Azz who both did the lion’s share of the umpiring on the day, despite the heat! Also to Armface, who despite his injury hung around for the entirety of the match and kept the Tourists’ scorers in check by also recording our bowling figures.
Availability Reminder
With only 3 games left in the regular season, please make sure your availability is up-to-date so that the captains can give as many Bears as possible a run over the next few weeks. The team for this week’s clash against the Nooks @ Watson will be named tomorrow evening.
If you haven’t already done so, can you please also have your availability locked in for the semi-final and final dates.
Co-captains
Gribbs & Spoons